Corporate learning environments have undergone disruptive changes over the last 20 years due to the explosion of information technology, globalization of the workforce, and shrinking travel and training budgets. Those disruptions are accelerating with the introduction of new technologies such as social media. Potentially the most disruptive change…

Offers suggestions for improving computer training for older employees. Strategies include slowing the pace of the training, using older trainers, and having smaller classes. Discusses dealing with mouse problems and computer anxiety. (JOW)

Indicates that the most pervasive training challenge of the 1980s and 1990s is making sure that an organization becomes computer literate. Suggests that the ability to analyze needs effectively and prescribe training precisely will be crucial for success. (JOW)

Offers three strategies that will make the job of training employees to use new software easier: (1) understand the business need that the software is addressing; (2) synchronize the development of training and support materials with the software development cycle; and (3) choose the appropriate training approach for the software application.…

Some amount of genuine computer fear exists, but it should not be confused with concern over ability to master computer use. Resistance to change is natural, but doing and knowing will overcome anxieties in those reluctant to use computers. (SK)

Workers who become adept at using computer software are often asked for help by coworkers. To use their time more efficiently, they should be prepared as effective on-the-spot trainers who might teach a group how to solve a common problem. (SK)

Desktop personal computers do not appear to have increased productivity, largely because employees are not being trained properly. An effective training plan includes high quality internal training staff, connection with business objectives, and focus on career development. (SK)

When researchers installed a computer in a poor neighborhood in India and left it unattended, area children without computer experience taught themselves many popular programs and used the Internet. The experiment showed that practice, experimentation, and easy access can provide a foundation for more formal computer training. (JOW)

Although content-based instruction may eventually produce the same quality of learning as skill-based training, the latter produces results more quickly because skills are practiced earlier. Commonly used for teaching computer skills, the skill-based approach has other applications such as accelerated language learning and the Yamaha method of…

There is a large gap between the computer's potential to solve problems in a hurry and the American manager's knowledge of how to use it to do that. The concept is best captured by two frequently heard words: computer literacy. (SSH)

The author thinks that the microcomputer will combine with the concept of lifelong learning to cause sweeping changes in our concepts of education, training, and career development. He further argues that these three areas are going to lose their separate identities and become parts of a comprehensive system. (SSH)